Gas engine-refrigerator



Aug. 11, 19 70 A. u. SIMPSON GAS ENGINE-REFRIGERATOR Filed Dec. 23, 1968INVENTOR. ANTHONY U. SIMPSON mmnmwwma VOLUME OF COLD END United StatesPatent O 3,523,427 GAS ENGINE-REFRIGERATOR Anthony Unwin Simpson,Manhattan Beach, Calif., as-

signor to the Garrett Corporation, Los Angeles, Calif., a corporation ofCalifornia Filed Dec. 23, 1968, Ser. No. 786,051 Int. Cl. F25b 9/00 U.S.Cl. 62-6 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The apparatus has anenclosure with protruding closedend cylinders arranged in out-of-phaserelationship wherein porous blocks functioning as regenerators areconnected to a common crank on a crankshaft so that the porous blocksslide in their respective cylinders. The apparatus includes means, inthe form of a piston and cylinder assembly disposed substantiallyopposite one of the closed-end cylinders, for changing the total volumeof the enclosure. The piston is subjected to a substantially steadypressure and the piston is also connected to the common crank. A heatsource is applied to the other closed-end cylinder so that when thecrankshaft is started to rotate in a given direction, a low temperaturerefrigeration is obtained in the cylinder without the heat source, and,with a predetermined quantity of gas in the enclosure, uninterruptedenergy may be coupled from the crankshaft.

This invention relates to machines adapted to use input heat as a powersource to induce engine operation, whereby useful work, refrigeration orboth may be obtained.

In US. Pat. No. 1,275,507, R. Vuilleumier teaches a process forobtaining refrigeration wherein the'secondary effect of temperaturechanges due to changes in pressure is used to obtain refrigeration.

An object of this invention is to provide a novel machine that usessubstantially the Vuilleumier Refrigeration Process to provide eitherrefrigeration or useful mechanical work which may be used to overcomefriction and thus eliminating any need for an external power supply.

Another object is to provide a rigid, reliable machine for theabove-mentioned object.

These and other objects and features of advantages will be furtherunderstood by reference to the following specification and the drawingwherein:

1 FIG. 1 is a schematic of a typical prior art refrigerator using theVuilleumier Refrigeration Process.

FIG. 2 is a schematic of the novel gas engine-refrigerator; and

FIG. 3 is a plot of pressure versus the position of the regeneratorwithin the cold well for the prior art refrigerator of FIG. 1 and thenovel gas engine-refrigerator of FIG. 2.

SUMMARY OF THE VUILLEUMIER PROCESS Referring to the drawing and to FIG.1 in particular, the Vuilleumier Refrigeration Process will be explainedin conjunction with the machine shown, which includes an enclosure 11with two appendages communicating therewith. The appendages include ahot cylindrical sleeve 12, and a cold cylindrical sleeve 13, protrudingradially from an axis at which is located a shaft 15. Sleeves 12 and '13have their axes oriented approximately at right angles to each other.Within sleeves 12 and 13 are disposed regenerators 21 and 22,respectively. The regenerators are made of a porous metal to allow gasto freely pass therethrough and, in addition, to store heat so that anygas passing therethrough will either absorb heat from or give up heat tothe regenerators. The reice generators 21 and 22 are disposed in slidingrelation within their respective sleeves and are connected to the samecrank 17 on shaft 15 by connecting rods 23 and 24, respectively. On theend of the hot sleeve 12 is disposed a means 26 which seals the endthereof. The means 26 is at an elevated temperature, as it is heated byany suitable heat source, so that the means 26 supplies energy to thesystem. On the end of the cold sleeve 13 is disposed another means 27which seals the end thereof and acts as a heat load, as it is capable ofbecoming cold when the device is operated. Enclosure 11 has a heatconducting wall 28 which functions as a heat sink and could be exposedto the atmosphere to maintain the gas, bounded by enclosure 11 and bothregenerators, at ambient temperature. Means such as a radiator (notshown) may be employed to modify the ambient temperature to some valuebetween the temperature of means 26 and means 27.

The device operates by rotating the shaft 15 in the counterclockwisedirection as shown by the arrows in FIG. 1. When hot regenerator 21 isnear means 26 or crank 17 is at position A, very little or none of thegas within the sleeve 12 is at the hot temperature of means 26, whilecold regenerator 22 has travelled approximately half the distancetowards means 27. Thepressure within enclosure 11 is inherently at arelatively low value as shown in FIG. 3 by point A on the solid line.The solid line shows the relative pressure within the enclosure withrespect to the position of the cold regenerator 22 or the volume of gasat the cold end 27 for the machine FIG. 1. As the crank 17 moves frompoint A to point B (FIG. 1) the volume of the hot gas within sleeve 12increases while the volume, of the cold gas within sleeve 13 decreases.This causes the average pressure of the gas to increase as shown by thesolid line from point A to point B (FIG. 3). The increase in averagepressure tends to increase the temperature of they gas within enclosure11, but wall 28 being at ambient temperature maintains this gas atambient temperature by removing heat. When the crank 17 moves from pointB to C (FIG. 1) the volumes of both the. hot and cold gases increasetogether. The temperature of means 26 and 27 could be such that thepressure varies very little, as shown by the curve from points B to C.When the crank moves from position C to D, the volume of the hot gasdecreases while the volume of the cold gas increases. The averagepressure,

' within the enclosure, drops appreciably and tends to drop betweenregenerator 22 and the means 27 may only absorb heat from means 27dropping the temperature thereof. Heat is absorbed from means 27 duringeach cycle or revolution of the shaft 15. The area bounded by the solidline in FIG. 3 indicates the amount of energy thatis theoreticallyabsorbed from means 27 for each cycle.

THE NOVEL APPARATUS Referring to FIG. 2, there is shown an embodiment ofa novel device which can perform useful work by using the processdiscussed above. Parts, in FIG. 2, having the same reference numbers asparts in FIG. I, perform the same function and are equivalent, exceptthat enclosure 11 has a means for changing the volume thereof. The meansis a movable wall, for example, in the form of a piston 31 that moves ina cylinder 14 to change the volume of the enclosure 11. The cylinder 1'4is substantially aligned with cylinder 13 and disposed on the oppositeside of the crank 17. The piston 31 is connected at its crank end tocrank 17 by a connecting rod 32. A suitable seal, for example, a pistonring 33 is provided between the piston 31 and the cylinder 14. The headend of cylinder 14 may be open to the atmosphere so that atmosphericpressure acts on the top of thepiston. A ratchet disc 16- is fixed tothe rotating shaft 15 and has suitable teeth that engage a pawl 18 in astandard manner that allows disc 16 to rotate only in thecounterclockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 2 and in the direction ofthe arrow. Now, as disc 16 rotates in the direction of the arrow thepressure within the enclosure 11 will rise to a value above atmosphericand fall to a value below atmospheric. The piston 31, being connected toa crank 17, moves away from the center of the enclosure when the coldregenerator 22 moves towards the center and the piston moves towards thecenter when the cold regenerator moves away so that both actions aid ineither increasing or decreasing the average pressure within the devicewhen crank 17 is at points B and D (FIG. 2) respectively. Thus, when thecrank 17 is at position A, the piston 31 is midway between its ends oftravel and the pressure within the enclosure would approximately be thesame as in the embodiment in FIG. 1 with the crank 17 in the sameposition A. This is shown in FIG. 3 by the dash lines crossing the solidline near point A. Then, when the crank 17 of FIG. 2 moves to position Bthe pressure within the enclosure .would be at a value, for example B(FIG. 3), which is lower than point B. When the crank 17 moves toposition C, the pressure within the enclosure would again beapproximately the same as in the embodiment of FIG. 1, with the crank 17in the same position C. When the crank 17 moves to position D, thepressure within the enclosure would be at a value D (FIG. 3) which ishigher than point D.

, Therefore, when the crank 17 is at position D, atmospheric pressurecauses the piston to move inward so that, after crank 17 passes positionA, inertia carries the crank 17 to position B. The internal pressure nowacts to move piston 31 outward. The thermodynamic cycle of thisembodiment of FIG. 2 is represented by the dash line in FIG. 3. The areaenclosed by the dash line is obviously smaller than the area enclosed bythe solid line indicating that some refrigeration has been traded olffor work. The engine disclosed may be powered by any available heatsupply and operated to concurrently provide a refrigcrating effect atany temperature range below ambient and a mechanical work oupnt. Theengine is particularly useful in installations where simplicity inconstruction and trouble-free service are required. One skilled in theart can substitute a flexible diaphragm for the piston to furtherimprove its reliability. Also, the need for a tight seal 33 can bereduced by closing off the cylinder 14 to form a reservoir having asubstantially steady pressure at other than ambient pressure. Thus, gasescaping past seal 33 fications and variations coming within the scopeof the claims.

What is claimed is: 1. An apparatus adapted to deliver mechanical workoutput and refrigeration, said apparatus comprising:

an enclosure containing an amount of gas, a cold well and a hot wellcommunicating with said enclosure and extending radially from an axis, aheat source disposed on the end of said hot well, a regenerator disposedwithin each of said Wells and in sliding relation therewith, means formoving said regenerators in a predetermined sequence so that the gaspressure within said enclosure varies and in turn refrigeration isobtained within said cold well, and means responsive to the position ofthe regenerator within said cold well to vary the effective volume ofsaid enclosure to cause further pressure variations so that power may beextracted from the apparatus. 2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein: saidmeans includes: a piston and a cylinder wherein said piston slidesaxially of said cylinder, said piston having a head end and a crank end;rod means connecting said crank end of the piston to said crankshaft sothat said piston moves inwardly as said regenerator in said cold wellmoves outwardly, and means for applying a pressure to the head end ofsaid i piston. 3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein: said cylinder isdisposed substantially on the opposite side of said crankshaft fromsaidcold well, and said regenerators and said piston are connected to acommon crank on said shaft so that said piston and said regenerator insaid cold well move in the same direction. 4. The apparatus'of claim 3wherein: said Wells and cylinder are disposed at an angle ofsubstantially 90 to each other with said hot well disposed between saidcold well and said cylinder, and means are provided for causing thecrankshaft to rotate in one direction so that the crank rotates throughan angle of substantially 90 from its position closest to said hot wellto its position closest to said cold well.

' References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,169,308 1/ 1916 Villa -241,675,829 5/1928 Smith 60-24 2,664,698 1/1954 Van De Poll 60-24 WILLIAMJ. WYE, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 60-24; 62-86

